Egg Shell, Bean Peel, Coffee Pulp

Atelier Barb Bio Composite Collection

Barb's designers set up this atelier to move away from linear economy production methods and close the loop. It all started when they thought that kidney bean peels should not be considered as waste, how could such a beautiful, robust and unique design that nature gave us could be thrown away? Thus, it has been the priority of Atelier Barb to process this potential value in different ways and eventually to produce new products. The name "Barb" is the abbreviation of Barbunya (Kidney bean in Turkish), which gave the atelier its inspiration.

As a result of these awareness, instead of being designers who keep up with today's industrial production methods that are completely harmful, they came to the conclusion that they could do everything they imagined by using what nature gave them, producing materials that are fully functional, unique, timeless and most importantly recyclable.

They developed these materials with the aim of putting thought into the whole "new product development" process. Potential materials that we call waste are actually an important part of our day. Atelier Barb likens a human day to a whole cycle and reflects the same analogy to its product and material range. During a day cycle, the behaviours performed by individuals are taken into account and the objects of daily life they need during these behaviours are determined. In this way, Atelier Barb aims to complement people's days with its 100% sustainable and recyclable products. During the construction of Barb Eggware and Barb Composite, the products we use in our daily lives were taken into consideration. The products to be composed of these materials are determined as egg containers, lighting elements, stools, table top organizers, pocket mirrors and similar lifestyle products.

Additional information

Since Atelier Barb was founded by industrial designers, it has a perspective that embraces the design thinking approach at every step of its development. Before the material is designed, the products to be made undergo a long and versatile design process. This inductive design approach includes not only the product that is currently in progress, but also other projects that Atelier Barb will design and implement in the future. The design and impact model is created with the aim of creating a direct social and environmental impact for products and services. After designing the product, field research is carried out on the most sustainable material to be used in the design and then on the wastes that contribute to the circular economy. Providing waste locally is the first priority of this research.

Atelier Barb is currently a home lab and process after the waste collection takes place in this lab. Egg shells broken off during production and separated as waste are collected from local egg producers, kidney bean peels are obtained from frozen food producers and people making homemade canned food, and coffee grounds are collected from local cafes and households. They are then dried and, as the case may be, subjected to a baking process to purify them from bacteria. Lastly they are combined with a plant-based bio binder developed by Atelier Barb and moulded with reusable moulds. The products are finalised by manual procedure.

Information submitted by the maker and edited by the Future Materials Bank.

Ingredients